I was out of town over the weekend. That's why I haven't updated in a few days.

Also, I'll be starting back to college tomorrow, so I won't update as much. I'm hoping to do at least one chapter a day still.


Chapter 3- The Reason Why

Yami went to Yugi's door and knocked. "Yugi, can I come in?" Yami asked.

"Yes." Yugi answered.

Yami opened the door and walked in. He saw Yugi sit up and wipe his eyes. Yami could tell that he had been crying. 'Bakura and Ryou need to be shot for what they did to Yugi.' Yami thought angrily.

"What is it, Yami?" Yugi asked.

"I wanted to make sure that you were all right after what happened down in the shop." Yami answered, sitting down on the bed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to hear about that, Yami." Yugi said.

"Yugi, you don't need to apologize. Ryou and Bakura are the one's that should be apologizing to you." Yami said.

Yugi sighed. "Well, I guess since you heard all of that, I might as well tell you exactly what would happened." Yugi said.

"Yugi, you don't have to tell me right now if you don't want to. I'm not going to pressure you to do that." Yami told him.

"I know, and you've been real patient with me, even though I know that you want to know what happened. Besides, it think that I need talk about it." Yugi said.

"All right, Yugi. Tell me if you want to." Yami said. He positioned himself so that he was sitting cross-legged on the bed, facing Yugi.

"Well, you know that Ryou and I got together during our last semester of high school." Yugi said.

Yami nodded.

"Well, we were fine for a while. After dating a year, we decided that we would move in together, so we rented that apartment, and we'd lived there for the past two years. We had our little fights like all couples do, but it was never anything serious. We were actually really happy." Yugi said.

"But?" Yami said, knowing that the but was coming.

"About sox months ago, I noticed that Ryou seemed to be a little distant. I asked him what was wrong, but he said that it was nothing, and that I didn't need to worry about it. Ryou had never lied to me before, so I dropped it. I didn't think that I should worry too much. Anyway, I noticed that Ryou seemed to be going out and staying out late a lot. At first, I didn't pay much attention to it because I knew that he needed his space just like I did at times. There was more than one time that I ended up staying over with Joey. It was after that that I noticed that he seemed even more distant. I rarely saw him, and he was always busy doing something or had work that he needed to do at the office. I knew that Ryou's job was demand ding, and I accepted this for a while. I guess I started to get suspicious when Ryou ended up starting to stay out all night and not coming home until the next morning. Most of the time it was late in the morning, too." Yugi said.

"He was seeing Bakura." Yami said.

Yugi nodded. "Of course, I didn't know that at first. I went to Joey and told him what had been happening. He suggested that I ask Ryou about it. I did, and Ryou pretty much blew up at me. He told me that I didn't trust him, and that I needed to stop being so suspicious. I really didn't suspect anything at the time. For a little while, I did let it go. He started staying out more often, and he ended up having a lot of business meetings and trips that he had to take. It wasn't unusual with his job, but it was a lot more than it used to be. One day, when Ryou was supposedly gone on a business trip, I met Joey at a restaurant for lunch. He knew I was alone, and Mai was gone on a trip, so he suggested that we eat out. At the restaurant, Joey and I saw Bakura and Ryou there, and they were kissing each other." Yugi said.

"What did you do?" Yami asked.

Yugi sighed. "Nothing, at first. I was too dumbstruck at what I saw. Joey was about to blow a gasket. He was about to rush over and demand to know what had happened to the business trip that Ryou was supposed to be on, but I didn't let him." Yugi said.

"Why not? I sure as hell would have." Yami stated.

"I wanted to give Ryou the chance to come clean. When he got home, I just asked about the trip, and he gave me good details, but I knew they were lies. I couldn't bring myself to tell him that I seen him and Bakura at that restaurant that night. This was about three months ago. That was when I realized that Ryou had been cheating on me for the past six months." Yugi said.

"What did you do then?" Yami asked.

"For a while, nothing. I just acted like I didn't know what was going on. Ryou never even tried to tell me what had been going on. I knew about him and Bakura, but I couldn't bring myself to confront him. You know that I have never been good at confrontation." Yugi said.

"This went on for three more months, though." Yami said.

"I know. I won't lie. I got to the point that I couldn't handle what was going on. I actually turned to alcohol to help me deal with the pain of what Ryou was doing." Yugi said.

"You started drinking?!" Yami shouted. He was beyond shocked.

Yugi had never been one to touch and kind of alcoholic drink.

"Yeah. I know. Strange that I, of all people, would actually drink, but I did. At first, it was only one or two. Then, it got to where I was drinking too much and would usually end up completely drunk. One time, Joey and Mau found me at a bar, completely drunk. Joey probably went ballistic on me, but I don't remember. I woke up at Joey's apartment the next day with a bad hangover. I told Joey everything. He would have confronted Ryou himself, but again, I was foolish and wouldn't let him. Joey ended up making me promise that if I was going to go out drinking that I would let him know so that he could go with me. I agreed. Atemu and Heba found us in the bar one night. When Atemu found out, he literally when ballistic. Not even Heba could calm him down. I was thankful that we had went back to Heba's and Atemu's apartment before we told them. I think that Atemu used every curse word he knew in Egyptian, Japanese, and English. To say he was mad as hell was an understatement." Yugi said.

"What did he do?" Yami asked.

"Thankfully, nothing. Whenever I would end up drunk, Atemu told Joey to call him, and he and Heba would end up keeping me at their apartment until the next morning when I had the hangover. I'd had a particularly bad day, and I knew that Ryou had been with Bakura that night, and I ended up getting wasted. Joey called Atemu and Heba, and they came and got me. I woke up the next morning with the worst hangover that I had ever had. I realized that I couldn't keep doing that to myself. Heba and I went over to my apartment, and we packed all of my stuff. I had decided that I would move back here and live with Grandpa. As we were about to leave, Ryou came back. I had Heba leave, and I ended things with Ryou. He didn't think that I knew about him and Bakura. I could see the surprise in his face when I told him that I knew. I didn't bother listening to any excuse that he might come up with. I just told him good bye and left." Yugi said.

Yami sighed. "I'm sorry that you had to go through that." Yami said.

"To be honest, I always expected Ryou to leave me for Bakura if he ever decided to tell Bakura how he felt. We all know that Ryou always had a thing for Bakura when we were in high school, so I guess that we shouldn't have been too surprised when this happened. I wasn't surprised that Ryou went to Bakura. I was surprised that he cheated like he did. I thought that he would have at least broken up with me first." Yugi said.

"So did I. It makes me angry that he hurt you the way that he did. Ryou and Bakura didn't have the right to do that." Yami said.

"No, they didn't. I mean, I know that they love each other, but I just wish that Ryou had broken things off with me first." Yugi said.

"Yugi, why didn't you ever come to me and tell me about all this? You know that I would have been there to help you." Yami said.

"I know, but I had been talking to Joey who had been talking to Mokuba. Mokuba had told Joey that you and Seto were fighting all of the time, and that it was rare for a night to go by without you two at each other's throats. Literally. You were having your own relationship problems, and I didn't want you to have to deal with mine, too." Yugi said.

Yami reached out and put a hand on Yugi's cheek. "Yugi, you know that I would have listened. Maybe Seto and I were having problems, but they were nowhere like yours. Seto and I didn't cheat on each other like Ryou did to you." Yami said.

"I know. I was worried when you told me the day that you moved in that Joey and Seto had gotten together that Seto had cheated on you, but I knew better. Joey had seen what it did to me, and he wouldn't have wanted you to go through what I did." Yugi said.

Yami nodded. "I am sorry about what you went through, Yugi. Ryou and Bakura didn't have the right to do that, and they didn't have the right to come here say all that they did today." Yami said.

"Maybe not. The truth is that I'm just not ready to talk to them about it yet. More so, Ryou." Yugi said.

"Just wait until you're ready." Yami said.

Yugi nodded. "Thanks for listening, Yami." Yugi said.

"Anytime, Yugi. You know that." Yami said.

The door bell downstairs rang.

"Hmm. I wonder who that could be." Yami said.

"Yami! Yugi! You two here!" Atemu called.

"We're coming!" Yami yelled back.

Yami and Yugi went downstairs to find that Atemu and Heba were in the living room.

"What are you two doing here?" Yugi asked.

"Well, we came to see if you wanted to go out to dinner with us." Heba said.

"Well, we don't have anything to do, so I guess that we can." Yugi said.

"We'll go get ready." Yami said.

The two went back upstairs.

Heba looked over at Atemu. "Do you think that Yugi told Yami what happened?" Heba asked.

"I don't know. If I can get Yami alone, I'll ask him. I'd rather not ask in front of Yugi." Atemu replied.

Yugi and Yami came back downstairs, dressed and ready.

"So, where are we going?" Yugi asked.

"We thought that we would go to Donatello's." Atemu replied.

"Sounds good to me." Yugi said.


After dinner, the group had gone to the mall to do a little shopping.

Atemu grabbed Yami and pulled him back a little.

"Atemu, what's your deal?" Yami asked.

"I wanted to know if Yugi had told you what had happened between him and Ryou." Atemu said.

"If you mean about the affair, the lies, and the drinking, yes. He actually told me right before you two arrived." Yami replied.

"Oh. I'm glad that he told you." Atemu said.

"Ryou and Bakura came to the shop earlier, and Yugi got in an argument with them. After that, I talked to him. I'm angry at what they did, and I'm not going to be too forgiving with them." Yami said.

"You're not the only one." Atemu replied.


Ryou had moved into Bakura's apartment with him as soon as he and Yugi had broken up.

There was a knock on the door.

"I wonder who that could be." Ryou said. He went and opened the door to find that Atemu and Yami were outside.

"Hello, Ryou." Yami said.

"What the hell do you two want?!" Bakura demanded.

"To have a little chat about what you two did." Atemu said.

"We don't have anything to say to you." Bakura barked.

"Bakura, we can either talk about this inside closed doors, or we can talk about it outside where anyone can hear us." Yami said.

"Come on in." Ryou said, stepping aside.

Atemu and Yami walked in, and Ryou closed the door.

"Go on and sit down." Ryou said.

"No, thank you. We don't plan on staying very long." Atemu said.

"Well, say whatever you are going to say." Bakura said.

"When Yugi told me about what you did, I'll admit that I was angry. I know that you had a thing for Bakura since high school, Ryou, but that doesn't excuse the fact that you did cheat on Yugi. You should have broken up with Yugi before you started to see Bakura." Yami said.

"I know that, Yami. You have no idea how much I hate the fact that I hurt Yugi. I never meant to hurt him. I just didn't know how to break up with him." Ryou said.

"Still, it was wrong, and you hurt Yugi a lot." Atemu said.

"I know." Ryou said.

"Ryou, you drove Yugi to drink. He started drinking until he was wasted. Joey, Heba, and I had to deal with that." Atemu said.

"He never drank before." Ryou said.

"That's because he didn't have a reason to." Atemu said.

"We know that what we did was wrong. We're not proud of the fact that we did." Bakura said.

"Well, you both caused a lot of hurt for him. My first instinct was to kill you both, but I like my freedom. All I ask is that you don't approach Yugi until he wants to talk to you." Yami said.

"All right. I won't." Ryou said.

"Good. That's all that I have to say." Yami said.

With that, Yami and Atemu left the apartment.

"That could have gone worse." Bakura said.

"They're right, though. We need to stay away from him for a while." Ryou said.


A week had passed by, and Ryou was rather surprised by the phone call that he had received earlier. Ryou went to the park where he found Yugi sitting on a bench. "Hi, Yugi." Ryou said.

Yugi looked up and said, "Hi, Ryou. Thanks for coming."

Ryou nodded and sat down. "You said that you wanted to see me." Ryou said.

Yugi took a deep breath and let it out. "First, I'd like to apologize for Yami and Atemu going to see you and Bakura. I didn't know that they had done that until after they did. They shouldn't have." Yugi said.

Ryou shook his head. "It's okay, Yugi. Bakura and I deserved it." Ryou said.

"Well, I wanted to tell you that I knew for sure that you were cheating on me with Bakura for three months. I figured out it was six by your behavior before." Yugi said.

"How?" Ryou asked.

"One time, when you said that you were on a business trip, Mai was also out of town, so Joey invited me to eat dinner with him. We saw you and Bakura kissing outside of the restaurant. Once I got over my shock, I was able to out everything together." Yugi said.

"Yugi, I am truly, very sorry. I never meant for you to find out that way. Bakura kept telling me that I needed to end things with you, but I never could find the right way to do it. You had always been great to me, and I didn't want to hurt you." Ryou said.

"Ryou, it hurt more that you cheated." Yugi said.

"I know." Ryou said.

"You know, I always expected you to leave me for Bakura if you ever found the courage to tell him. I just thought that you would have broken up with me before you did something like that." Yugi said.

"It was stupid of me. I should have listened to Bakura, but I didn't." Ryou said. He looked over at Yugi and said, "How did you know I would leave you for Bakura, though?"

"Ryou, I knew back in high school how you felt about him. I knew that one day, you might tell him. I was prepared for that." Yugi said.

"I really hurt you, Yugi, and you have no idea how sorry I am." Ryou said.

"I can see that you are sorry, Ryou. I know that you are. And, as strange as it is, I do forgive you for what you did, and I do sincerely hope that you and Bakura are happy together." Yugi said.

"Thank you. Are you and Yami going to get together?" Ryou asked.

Yugi blushed.

"Come on, Yugi. I know that you liked him back in high school, and that never changed. Are you?" Ryou asked.

"I'd like to, but I don't know. We're friends, though." Yugi said.

"You should tell him. I was scared, and Bakura and I are together now. You should take the risk. I think that you should tell him." Ryou said.

"Maybe I will. Ryou, I'd like us to stay friends. I don't want to lose your friendship. It might be a little odd at first, but I'd like it." Yugi said.

"So would I, Yugi. And I am sorry." Ryou said.

"I know. We'll still see each other around, Ryou. I know that Bakura must be worried, like I know Yami is. I'll see sometime." Yugi said.

"All right. Bye, Yugi." Ryou said.

"Bye." Yugi replied.

The two went their separate ways.


That's the third chapter. Hope that you liked it.

The next chapter will have Yami and Yugi confessing.

R&R.